Disney Resorts vs. Downtown Disney

[minnie Mouse Maniac]

Is the transportation as reliable at the Downtown Disney resorts as the buses if you stay on property?? And, are the buses as good at the All Stars vs. the Moderate resorts??

 

[gracie]

I can't answer your Downtown Disney resorts questions, but I CAN tell you that when we stayed at ASMo we never waited more than 5 minutes for a bus, whether we were at the resort or at one of the theme parks. The transportation was great! The only long ride we had was from Downtown Disney, that took about 1 1/2 and was standing room only!

 

[jdads2]

We stayed at the Poly and are going to try the Allstars or DD next...doing a recon mission for a future whole family trip to WDW.... the longest wait we had was from DD to the TTC and it was standing room only as well. No other busses were this packed during our stay and only the mono had standing room after our first Illuminations viewing. We learned to take our time getting to the mono after that.

 

[DC7800]

Originally posted by minnie Mouse Maniac
are the buses as good at the All Stars vs. the Moderate resorts??

Buses from the All-Stars operate on a more direct route (hence, usually faster) than most moderate resorts (French Quarter being the exception), as they make only one stop at each resort. Some routes do serve all three All-Star properties before heading off to their destination, but we've never found the wait for any bus to be very long. For this reason, I'd rate All-Star buses slightly superior to moderate bus transportation (though both are good, and this very small advantage is not sufficient to otherwise sway your resort choice).

 

[Disneycrazymom]

In 2001 we stayed at the Hilton and this year took advantage of the super All Star rate. To answer your question I MUCH prefered the busses at the All Star. They were faster and easier to get on and off of with all the baby stuff. Strollers had to be placed in the luggage hold on the DD bus. Also at the on site resorts you are taken directly to MK where on the DD bus you are dropped off at the TTc. The 2nd day at the Hilton we rented a car. We used the All Star busses all week and thought they were wonderful.

 

[caverill]

We stayed at the Courtyard in 98. I think the bus service is much better at the Disney resorts. It was not uncommon to wait 30 - 45 minutes for a bus.

We actually started walking to DD and take the Disney buses, which you can do if you have any type of Disney ticket/pass.

If you want to make full use of your time either plan on driving to the parks or walking to DD to catch the bus.

 

[Master Gracey]

When making reservations to stay at a non-Disney hotel you should ask a lot of questions about their transportation to the parks. Many of the hotels do not have their own shuttles. Instead they contract with local bus services that go around from hotel to hotel picking up passengers before heading to the parks. They also sometimes go from park to park dropping off passengers. This can make for a long ride. Many of the hotel shuttles do not operate continuously, meaning if you miss your shuttle the next one may not arrive for hours.

If that isn't bad enough, the non-Disney shuttles are not permitted to use the Disney bus stops. They must load and unload at designated spots out in the public parking lots where there are no benches and no shade. And, as Disneycrazymom pointed out, they cannot go directly to MK but must load and unload at the TTC parking lot.

If you are walking distance from Marketplace you can catch a Disney bus there. But they don't go directly to the parks from Downtown Disney. You will still have to transfer at a the TTC.

 

[DaveH]

I have had good luck with Disney busses in general. Like anything in transportation there will be times you wonder. For the most part Disney busses are there every 10 to 20 minutes depending on time of year and day. Some stay very crowdwd because they go to several resorts or time of day such as after a foreworks show or parade and a mad dash to get back to resort to put tired little ones and adults down and such. Just leave yourself time to go wherever you want to go and be just fine. I have not stayed at any DD hotels so I don't know about them. I have heard of some folks have every bad thing happen in one trip on busses. Have a great trip.